Sources said he might not sit on his bench today as well.

Faizee phoned Mahfuzul Karim Akhand, deputy registrar of the Supreme Court (SC) and also secretary to the chief justice, at around 9:00am and said he was going to have the day off but did not explain the reason, sources added.

Later, the apex court authorities issued a notice saying that Faizee would not take part in the day's business yesterday.

It, however, could not be confirmed whether the chief justice has withdrawn Faizee from his bench.

Sources said the embattled judge has extended his leave for a few more days.

On Saturday, 70 people including Faizee were stripped of their Bachelor of Laws degrees on charge of tampering with mark sheets and asked to return their certificates immediately.

The lawyers yesterday demanded immediate resignation of the HC judge. They said they want his removal in case he does not stand down voluntarily.

President of the Supreme Court Bar Association (SCBA) barrister Amir-Ul Islam told The Daily Star that Faizee has lost the qualifications mandated by the constitution for continuing as a judge.

Meanwhile, those, who have been calling for Faizee's removal since news of his certificate forgery broke, yesterday distributed sweets to celebrate the CU decision.

In 2004, the then BNP-led coalition government appointed 19 additional judges that drew a huge flak from different quarters including the media and the lawyers.

On October 30 the same year two major national dailies--Prothom Alo and the Bhorer Kagoj-- reported that Justice Faizee had doctored with mark sheets of the LLB examinations that he took at the Chittagong Law College in 1989. They referred to a CU enquiry committee.

On March 21, 2005, the editors, publishers and reporters of the dailies were held in contempt for running the reports. The Appellate Division of the SC later stayed the verdict following an appeal that has yet to be disposed of.

Faizee had applied for the Bar's enrolment certificate showing a provisional LLB certificate. Even his father Mohammad Faiz who brought the proceedings against the two dailies could not produce his [Faizee's] original LLB certificate before the court.

Bangladesh Bar Council in an unprecedented move on April 2005 cancelled Faizee's enrolment certificate for furnishing false information and failing to disprove the allegation about his LLB exams result.

The statutory body of the legal practitioners also decided to file a criminal case against him for giving false information in the affidavit applying for a license to practise law.

Faizee filed a case with the HC challenging the Council's decision and obtained a stay on it.

Bar Council Vice-chairman Rokanuddin Mahmud yesterday told reporters that information given by Faizee's father in the contempt case against the two dailies has turned out to be false. So, he too should be brought to trial for giving false information in the affidavit.

He said there have long been different allegations against the HC judges appointed during the tenure of the immediate past government.

Rokan, also a former SCBA president, said those should be given proper attention now.

He said stern actions should be taken against those who had tried to protect Faizee that time.

He also demanded an investigation as to why the immediate past chief justice Syed JR Mudassir Husain took a stance in favour of the controversial judges.

The SCBA waged a strong campaign against Faizee after the newspapers reported on his certificate forgery in 2004.

Since then, they have been boycotting his court and demanding his removal.

Faizee did not sit in the court for long after the SCBA's protest.

The then chief justice Mudassir, however, formed a single bench for him after the HC verdict in the contempt case. The SCBA protested formation of the bench.

In 2006, the government confirmed Faizee as an HC judge on his completion of two years as an additional judge though Mudassir did not recommend his name.

Many lawyers say alongside the past government a group of people at the SC had all along been active to shield Faizee. They demanded that actions should be taken against those people now.

In Chittagong, the CU teachers and students yesterday expressed satisfaction over the cancellation decision.

Terming it a historic one, CU Vice-chancellor Professor M Badiul Alam said the university authorities would start implementation of the syndicate's decision within a week.

"No examinee or employee of the university will be spared in future if found guilty in any sort of fraudulence," the CU VC warned.

Anupam Sen, a professor of sociology at CU, thanked journalists for publishing the truth.

AKM Moinuddin, a student of journalism department, said, "As a Chittagong University student, it was like a curse for me. But Now I am relieved after the syndicate decision."

CHITTAGONG BAR'S MOVE
Chittagong District Bar Association asked the CU authorities to furnish them with names of those who had been engaged in tampering with their LLB certificates so they could take legal actions against them.

"We verbally requested the registrar of the university to give the names," Iftekhar Saimul Chowdhury, general secretary of the bar association, told The Daily Star.

The association also asked the lawyers, whose certificates were cancelled, to quit law practices and not to come in the court premises.

"Legal actions will be taken against who will be found involved in certificate tampering," read a notice of the association.